More Italy

A hard fact of life is move out day.
Especially when you have to pick and choose which books to take with you because your apartment just doesn't have the room to take them all.

For a while it worked out for me, because I would just rotate through my books, moving them between my parent's home and the apartment.

It became even less of an issue as I got out of reading, (gasp! :S who'da thought that would happen.) in favor of writing my own stories. So the shuffling happened less and less.

But then, the other day I finally pulled off my shelves, at my apartment, a series by Lisa T. Bergren. The River of Time series. Her books initially caught my interest because they were set in Italy, and I have a rather soft spot for books set in that place.

Because of a different series, which this series inspired me to reread again.

It's Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza Series.

That's where my love for Italy first began, because of the richness of the world she's created, the characters. Ah. Just love the series. Love the characters, the setting, all of it. ^^

I wanted to read it again.
Only, I had a slight problem.
That particular series had been on it's rotation on the back home front.
Where my dad had recently packed up my room into a bunch of boxes. Books included.

No big deal really. I was sure that my stuff would be right out in front. Easy to access.
Oh how I was wrong. I stared into the mountain of a storage room, and had no idea where to start.
Some less determined person might have taken one look, and gone back upstairs.
But not me.
Okay, I went back upstairs, but only to ask the parentals which part of the storage room contained 'my stuff.'
I returned to the mountain!
I needed my books. Especially because I'd been waiting all week for my trip home to get them. And read them!
Plus, The Stravaganza series had expanded since I last read them, and I couldn't remember which of the last books I'd gotten. I was pretty sure I needed to get the last two, but I didn't want to buy both of them only to find out that I already had one.
I had to go through four boxes of books to find the entire set. And I was right. I needed to get the last two. :)

Now, now my continuing Italy-based-books obsession can continue! :D

-Sarnic Dirchi
 

A Favorite Star

Do you ever look up at the stars?
On occasion I do,
and whenever I see one particular star up above the horizon.
I smile. It gives me a moment of happiness.

Which star is this?

Sirius.
The DogStar

Where did my love for this star begin?
When I picked up a book.

Dogsbody By Diana Wynne Jones

 

If I'm asked to pick my 'favorite book' (that isn't a series) This is my go to.

It's a book where I can pick it up, read it, finish it, and immediately go back to page 1 and start all over again.

 

It's a...feel good book. :) Even though it doesn't have quite the ending I'd like it to have, I love it anyway.

 

The DogStar -Sirius is on trial for killing another star. He has his star torn away from him, and he's sent down to earth in the form of a dog to try and find a 'weapon' that possibly fell there. But with memory loss, 'pet life', and other stars out to kill him, it becomes a race against time. Because if he doesn't find the 'weapon' before his 'dog life' is over, he dies as a dog, and can never return to being in charge of his star.

 

Yes, my love for this book ties in closely to my love for the actual star. :)

 

-Sarnic Dirchi

Sickly

I've decided I have a flare for Italian boys.
In books.
Particularly the ones who are sickly. The underdogs, where their life has been 'ruined' and nothing will be the same.
Yet, somehow they keep living.
And through a series of events, end up getting what they wanted.

Yah! I mean, who cares about tall dark and handsome? He'll get his girl. But Mr. Sickly? He should have a happy ending too!

...as it's just depressing to have the sickly character....die.

I mean, totally makes sense that it could happen,
But I oh so want them to get their 'just deserts' in life as well.

*sighs*

A girl can hope. Even if it doesn't always happen.

-Sarnic Dirchi

It's a Concept, Not a Book

So one of my managers found me working on writing a story during my break.
Of course they asked about it. "What are you writing?"
"A story?"
"Oh?"
"yah."
"What's it about?"

Now, I know by now that if I tell someone about the current project I'm working are, odds are that I won't be working on it for much longer.
Such a weird trend that.
As I tend to get distracted with a different idea soon after.
Plus, the current idea I had been working on...was still in the 'huh I have this scene can I take it further?' beginnings of 'just thought of this, I have time to write, let's try it.'

And since it wasn't more than an idea yet, I tried to brush it off,
but the manager was insistent.

So, took my usual route. Tell the interested party about a different story I'd worked on in the past, but wasn't currently working on. About a boy and his discovery of a dragon.

Oh, such a mistake. Suddenly I was fending off a million questions a second.
"What's the plot? What's your books title? How far along are you? What's so and so's name? Is it a romance? What type of story is it? How old is the boy? Where is it set? Is it on Earth? When is it going to be published? "what size is the dragon?" "Do they travel in communal groups?" I so look forward to reading it.

Talk about sudden build up of pressure! GAH! O.O
Can I tell you I hate this sort of questioning? Geez! I don't know I don't know I don't know! I'm not that sort of writer. It's enough to make me want to curl up in a ball and rock back and forth. Seriously. The ideas are fragile spider webs, not sheets of metal. They don't hold up well when weight is put on them.

I did my best. "Plot's about a boy who discovers a dragon." "Haven't named it." "Three pages." (made up that number) -his look of surprise at that. Yah. 'Brand New Idea' Means I didn't just blink and suddenly have a whole book in my hands. *shakes head* "No it's not." "He's 17" (made up the age)
"Its not set on earth" (no idea really. why do books need to be set in a specific place?) "Haven't written it yet."

Annoying things questions. I mean, useful. So you can tell what a person is interested in. But annoying when the idea is in the 'budding' version. I mean, the dragon story plot has waaaay more of a plot then what I told my manager. But really, I was trying to put them off so I could focus on working on writing what I actually was writing.

Anyway back on annoying. 'Budding idea." It always seems like when I tell a person about it, they expect me to already have everything worked out. The Whole Plot, Background Story, Relationships, Twists, Setting, Character Bios. Everything. Even pieces for you to read....
Gah!

Seriously, not the way I work. I know I need that stuff. But it's a 'comes as it comes' sort of process. I often decide things while I'm writing. I don't know everything. That's half the fun of writing. Discovering the world and characters.

In any case.
The Two things that bugged me...no three things that bugged me from this conversation was.
1. The kid is '17' and my manager was like "He's 17? Oh that means it needs to be a romance story!" I was like "No it doesn't." And they're like "Yah, yah it does!" Seriously? I've read plenty of books where Romance isn't the key element to someone that age. And it's not a key element in this one. There is a concept of one in this plot admittedly, but until it's written out. Who knows if it would actually happen.
-Quit telling me how my book needs to be.

Not so annoying but annoying.

This one though is annoying.
2. One of my character's names is Flick.
The manager was like "Flick? Like the ant from A Bugs Life? You can't use that name! You need to change it. It's already been used. Pick a different name."
Uhmmm who died and made you my agent/editor? Seriously. Names can be used more then once. Just because a name is used in a movie or book doesn't mean that it can't ever be used again. I mean, I get it. There are some names that you'll want to tread carefully in using. "Harry, Hermione, Ron, Edward, Bella, Jacob." Those are names where you'll want to think twice about it before naming a character that just because they are popular names at the moment. But Flick? A bug's name?
Honestly I hadn't even made the connection. And I watched a bug's life like two days before this conversation. No connection. Names are names. They end up going with the character.
But yah, I can understand the need to change names. It happens on occasion, doesn't mean I won't fight long and hard to keep the name as it is. But I get it. Seriously I do. But really? I won't change a character's name just because 'you' think I should. I just told you a very brief very sketchy version of a story. You don't know all of the details, don't go making suggestions.

And finally number 3.
Later on in my work shift. "I've been thinking of ideas to help you with your story."

O.o Huh? I don't recall me asking you for suggestions.  Or for help. Or for anything in relation to my story idea.

So I politely smiled and told the manager something along the lines of:  "I already have an outline, but if you want to write your own story with those ideas, I'd love to read it."

Hopefully they didn't take offense to that. Hopefully I didn't come off as rude.
But really. My story means MINE! I'm very possessive. Until I want to show you the finished draft, or work out a problem, or ask for suggestions. Let me have my story be Mine!

But really, I fear I've unleashed a monster at work. I can just picture every time I see this manager they're going to ask me "How's Flick's story going?"

Uhh...it's not. Currently working on a different story idea. And I will most likely be working on a different story idea every time you ask me. It's just how I roll.

:) Okay Rant over. Back to writing whichever story I'm currently working on! ;)

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Sounds

I get random ideas for stories from the most random places.

The most recent inspiration.

Walking out of a fast food place, I happened to witness an SUV honking long and crazy and constantly at a car that apparently was going slow in front of them. It looked like the car had been slowing down to turn? But hadn't signaled or moved over fast enough for the SUV's liking.

This is all conjecture though because it was a quick thing. Maybe something had happened at the light, maybe the cars knew each other,

But the main point is.

The thought that came into mind was something along the lines of.

"If you died, and you were doomed to make the last sound you made over and over and over..."

That guy for sure would be doomed to be annoying by making the sound of a car horn.

Yah. It was a random thought. Good things about random thoughts, they contain a little random nugget that actually is good inspiration for an actual story idea. ;) No matter how convoluted the beginning.

-Sarnic Dirchi

When To Write?

I have a problem.
I've realized, for a while now, that I can write my best when there's nothing going on.
Aka I have no music playing and no tv on.

Paradoxically, I've convinced myself that I really can't write unless I have 'sound on' in the background.

It's like I'm terrified of quiet or something. ;)

Or that, my brain thinking gets a tad bit too loud and I decide that I need to drown it out with something.

But in any case, it seems like I can't focus when it's 'quiet' because I feel like I should be 'doing something productive' while writing. (Go figure that out, why is writing not productive unless I'm doing something else with it? No idea.)

Yet, when I have sound on 'in the background' more often then not it becomes the 'fore ground'

And guess what?

Yah, I still don't get any writing down.

However, I am also wondering if it's just the time of day that I attempt to do stuff in. Or how long it takes me to 'finish' other tasks before I can actually sit down and 'write.' -which usually means by the time I get to writing...I don't feel like writing.

Really, I feel like I'm temperamental. It really just depends on 'the moment.'
Sometimes music helps. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes this scene works really well with sound in the background, while others require silence.

In any case. I do have this theory, that I like to write when 'I'm not officially up yet.'
As in, I've just woken up, my head is still leaning towards getting some extra sleep, and I haven't left my bed.
It feels like I'm in this 'inbetween place' where writing, writing is actually possible. Even the music going on in the background is helping. O.o

Yah. Who knows. I'll have to experiment on this a bit more probably. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi